Crain's week in news, April 12-18: Blue Cross pays $100M to new foundation; Dumars out as Pistons president

Eastern Market hired Detroit-based Lowe Campbell Ewald to develop and launch a new branding effort for the city's popular public food market.

Blue Cross pays $100 million to new foundation

Detroit-based Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michiganmade a first payment of $100 million into the East Lansing-based Michigan Health Endowment Fund, created last year as part of Blue Cross' conversion into a nonprofit mutual insurance company. The new foundation will receive $1.56 billion from Blue Cross over the next 18 years.

People

Joe Dumars

• Joe Dumars, 50, was removed as president of basketball operations for the Detroit Pistons, but he remains with the team as an adviser. He was succeeded for the interim by Ken Catanella, director of basketball operations, and George David, assistant general manager.

• Carmine Palombo, 61, director of transportation planning for the Detroit-based Southeast Michigan Council of Governments, was named SEMCOG's deputy executive director, replacing Kathleen Lomako, appointed executive director in January.

• Dan Dierdorf, a former University of Michigan All-American and a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame, was named radio analyst for UM football games this fall. Dierdorf will work with Jim Brandstatter, the longtime analyst who will move to the play-by-play role, succeeding the retired Frank Beckmann.

• Sterling Heights-based General Dynamics Land Systemssaid it will not ask the U.S. Government Accountability Office to weigh in on a military vehicle bid request it claims is stacked in favor of rival BAE Systems Inc. — but it doesn't yet consider the matter settled.

• Fuyao Automotive North America Inc., a subsidiary of China-based Fuyao Glass Industry Group Co. Ltd., is planning to invest $15.3 million in its Orion Township facility for an expansion that is expected to create 102 full-time jobs.

• Birmingham-based Munder Capital Management Inc.agreed to be acquired by Victory Capital Holdings Inc. and combined with its wealth-management portfolio company, Cleveland-based Victory Capital Management Inc., into a yet-to-be-named new company. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

• The nonprofit Eastern Market Corp. hired Detroit-based Lowe Campbell Ewaldto develop and launch a new branding effort for the city's popular public food market. No terms of the deal were disclosed.

• Southfield-based Mars Advertising Inc. announced an international corporate rebranding to The Mars Agency.

• An attorney suing Novi-based Lotus Bank asked an Oakland County Circuit Court judge to order the firing of bank President Neal Searle and CFO Richard Bauer over allegedly racist emails they sent.

• Monroe-based furniture maker La-Z-Boy Inc.said it is firing about 100 workers as it closes plants in a restructuring, Bloomberg reported. La-Z-Boy will discontinue production of wood furniture at its Hudson, N.C., plant next year and put its Lea Industries children's furniture unit and two manufacturing plants up for sale.

• Which Wich Superior Sandwiches, with 300-plus locations in four countries including one in Petoskey, opened its first Southeast Michigan location in Grosse Pointe.

• Tickets went on sale for the 2014 Detroit City Football Club season. The semi-pro soccer team plays its games at Cass Technical High School.

Other news

JEFF KOWALSKY | Bloomberg News

A proposed business improvement zone would lie roughly between the freeways — I-75 to the north; I-375 to the east; M-10 to the west — and the Detroit River, and would impact the 253 commercial property owners in that expanse.

• Walsh College announced that a $15 million renovation to its Troy campus building will begin this summer and take 18 months to complete.

• The Arab American National Museum in Dearborn received its first planned gift and its largest donation to date, a $2 million estate gift commitment from Russell Ebeid, retired chairman emeritus of Guardian Industries Corp.

• Detroit-based United Way for Southeastern Michigan raised just more than $40 million during its 2013-14 annual campaign, up 14 percent from the amount raised a year earlier. The percentage increase was the largest year-over-year for the organization in 17 years, the agency said.

• The city of Detroit reached tentative agreements to preserve pensions for retired police officers and firefighters but cut monthly payments for other former employees. The city neared agreements with more creditors on a plan to reduce its debt load, lawyers told U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Steven Rhodes, who withheld a final ruling on allowing a vote on the proposal, Bloomberg reported.

• The city of Detroit and Oakland, Macomb and Wayne counties were ordered to further explore the creation of a regional water authority, AP reported. The parties broke off negotiations earlier this year.

• Downtown Detroit property owners voted to establish a Downtown Business Improvement Zone and voluntarily tax themselves at a collective rate of $4 million per year to fund cleanup, safety and beautification efforts.

• The New Economy Initiative, a project of the Community Foundation for Southeast Michigan, announced it will give $500,000 in grants this year to small businesses in Detroit, Hamtramck and Highland Park.

• The Michigan Department of Natural Resources announced that Belle Islewill remain open during the Intelligent Transport Systems 21st World Congress Sept. 7-11. It was initially reported that the state park would close during the event.

• Home sales in Livingston, Macomb, Oakland and Wayne counties were down 15 percent in March from one year previous, but median prices increased 35.6 percent in the same period, according to Farmington Hills-based Realcomp II Ltd.

• Basil Qandil, M.D., who would see more than 100 patients a day at his Hamtramck clinic, was convicted of 34 crimes, from fraud to illegal drug distribution, in U.S. District Court, AP reported.

• Gov. Rick Snydermade his re-election bid official by turning in more than 26,000 signatures to election officials, AP reported. Separately, Snyder released a plan to double recycling of household solid waste in Michigan, estimated at 15 percent. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency puts the national average at 35 percent.

• The American Civil Liberties Unionfiled a lawsuit asking a judge to force the state of Michigan to recognize more than 300 same-sex marriages performed in March, AP reported.

• AAA Michigan said gasoline prices rose about 6 cents during the second week of April to a statewide average of about $3.71 per gallon, about 19 cents per gallon more than this time last year, AP reported.

Obituaries

• Ray Shepardson, who was instrumental in the restoration of the Fox Theatre, Gem Theatre and Detroit Opera House, died April 14 in an apparent suicide in Aurora, Ill. He was 70.